VIAcal™

VIAcal™ is a sublingual formulation of recombinant salmon calcitonin, a treatment for osteoporosis. Human calcitonin, which is released quickly by the thyroid gland, inhibits bone-tissue resorption, which allows bones to retain their mass. Salmon calcitonin provides greater potency and duration of action than the human calcitonin hormone and depresses bone resorption. Currently, salmon calcitonin is marketed as both a nasal and an injectable therapy. An oral formulation would offer further convenience for this patient population.

Treatments:

Parathyroid Hormone
Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is a human hormone, which helps to regulate calcium metabolism. PTH promotes osteoblast activity and the growth of new bone, while other osteoporosis medications improve bone density by inhibiting bone resorption. PTH is naturally released in quick bursts during sleep, and repeated brief exposures to PTH are essential to ensure that osteoblasts are not over stimulated. Over-stimulation of osetoblasts causes them to become less responsive to PTH, thereby reducing their bone formation activity. This can result in bone loss since osteoclasts, which remove bone tissue, are still active.

Salmon Calcitonin
Calcitonin is a hormone produced by the thyroid gland that acts primarily on bone. Calcitonin is used to decrease bone loss by inhibiting bone removal by osteoclasts. In women with osteoporosis, calcitonin has been shown to increase bone density and strength, while decreasing the rate of bone fractures. Calcitonins come from several animal species, but salmon calcitonin is the one most widely used.

Like PTH, calcitonin is released in quick bursts during sleep. Currently, calcitonin is only administered as an under the skin injection (subcutaneously) or into the muscle (intramuscularly) or nasally (intranasally) to ensure quick delivery. However, these forms of calcitonin administration have side effects. Injectable calcitonin can cause nausea with or without vomiting, local skin redness at the site of injection and flushing. Nasal sprays of calcitonin can cause runny noses, nosebleeds, bone pain and headaches.